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Death row inmate's sentence overturned

ATLANTA - The death sentence for a man who stabbed his estranged wife to death was overturned Monday by the Georgia Parole Board, one day before he was set to die by injection.

Willie James ''Bo'' Hall, 48, will serve a life sentence without parole after his attorneys pleaded for mercy Monday.

''The parole board cited Hall's lack of a prior criminal record, perfect conduct in prison and an indication from the DeKalb County district attorney's office that a plea to a life without parole sentence would have been accepted in this case if it were brought today,'' said parole board spokeswoman Heather Hedrick.

Attorneys for Hall showed signed affidavits by six of the jurors saying they would have preferred life without parole if that had been an option when Hall was sentenced to death in February 1989.

''Six jurors believe if there were life without parole, they would have given him that sentence,'' said Tony Axam, who represented Hall at trial. ''That becomes the basis for our case.''

Hall was convicted of murdering 23-year-old Thelma Burns Hall in DeKalb County in July 1988, as she made pleas to a 911 operator for help. Hall stabbed her 17 times with a rusty kitchen knife in the chest, stomach and other parts of her body. Hall turned himself in three days later in Clinton, Miss.